General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-two ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, fourteen have issued a hold recommendation, six have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $293.00.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $305.00 to $300.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. TD Securities lifted their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $335.00 to $330.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Argus set a $295.00 price target on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th.

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

In other General Dynamics news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 178,821 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction on Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.13, for a total value of $50,629,589.73. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 769,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $217,898,829.91. The trade was a 18.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Dynamics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GD. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in General Dynamics by 34,578.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,244,600 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $339,253,000 after acquiring an additional 1,241,011 shares during the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the 4th quarter worth about $279,582,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the 1st quarter worth about $272,464,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the 4th quarter worth about $197,238,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 34.8% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,748,380 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $749,252,000 after buying an additional 709,782 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

General Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of GD opened at $282.77 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. General Dynamics has a twelve month low of $239.20 and a twelve month high of $316.90. The company has a market capitalization of $75.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.46. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $275.66 and a 200 day moving average of $266.52.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.23. General Dynamics had a net margin of 8.08% and a return on equity of 17.82%. The business had revenue of $12.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.92 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.88 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that General Dynamics will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.61%.

About General Dynamics

General Dynamics Corporation operates as an aerospace and defense company worldwide. It operates through four segments: Aerospace, Marine Systems, Combat Systems, and Technologies. The Aerospace segment produces and sells business jets; and offers aircraft maintenance and repair, management, aircraft-on-ground support and completion, charter, staffing, and fixed-base operator services.